Monday, August 23, 2010

Optimism vs Election depression

Well, sometimes things are just weird.

Let's start with the good news. As long as she doesn't disappear into the net, I now have one very nice beta, who is doing a very good job. Hopefully she sticks around. She picked up on some things (namely that I'd been a little over savvy in my cutting) that made me rewrite some of the first chapters. Well and good. At least she didn't hate my characters :)
I started part time work. YAY! Money! I have to move all the way to Queensland next year (image moving from Texas to Canada. About the same distance) and it's going to take a bit.
I don't dislike my job. Okay, it can be boring at times, but the people I work with are nice, the customers are generally nice, I didn't have to do anything horrible, and I get paid according to a quite nice EBA. Which means I get paid more on Sunday.
So, there's two things going well.
And then there's this bloody election.
This is one topic of conversation that definitely is not going to be part of a checkout conversation unless someone brings it up. I live in a country seat, and we've been Liberal (the conservative party) for so long that the Liberal's MP office is starting to rust. If Labor ever did win, they'd have to move into the Liberal's old building, so "rusted-in" is that office.
So yes. I'm a fan of biggish government. Which means I will probably die before I consider voting for the Liberal party. So we're not going to have any conversations about politics, cause they will turn into debates :)
In other news, Australia now has a hung Parliament. Which means we have ANOTHER WEEK OR TWO of this until someone actually forms minority government. And then, stuff will only happen if Labor is that minority government, because the Greens control the Senate. A bill has to go through the House of Reps and the Senate to be passed. If the Libs form minority government with the independents, they will be able to pass things through the House of Reps. However, Can you see a right wing policy (the Liberals lean to the right, for those wondering) getting through a GREEN CONTROLLED SENATE (the Greens are the leftest leaning party you can go while still being pragmatic and practical IMHO)? Nope. Not going to happen.
So, yes. We get another three years of BS.
I think that's enough depression on the the national scale to offset the happiness in personal life. Delightful.

As I said. Sometimes things are just weird. In an awful way.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Looking for Beta readers

Finding a beta. Not the easiest job in the world, I can tell you. Especially when you're looking for it to be done in under two weeks.
I set myself a deadline. Just because. I may not keep to it, but from next week I start part time work, SO I'll know when my hours are, and be able to organise around them. I should also be able to argue against getting a second job, because I don't really want one.
So, I need people to go over the whole manuscript, and note where it feels weird, when the charecters are wrong, ect. ect. That's what I need. Then I plan to go through the entire thing, chapter by cdhapter, and make it sparkle. One chapter a day, 23 days.
My brithday, circumstatiually, is on the 23rd of september. So, i figure I'll start with the nit picking on the 1st, and have a nice present to my self. :D
Then comes the querying and sending it out, and so on and so forth.

Then all you can do is hope.

Friday, August 06, 2010

The Manda Query

Well, I know it's not perfect, but here is the work in progress version:

When 17 year old Kira Hilter’s mother dies, she retreats from the world to grieve. This grieving process is broken when she first comes into contact with the Manda, beings that can take on many forms and have been used as weapons for decades. They talk to her, something that is supposed to be impossible, and catapult Kira’s life into uncertainty.

The Manda themselves aren’t all that impressed – they have a hate of humanity that reaches back thousands of years. But with this hatred comes secrets about the Manda’s past, secrets that lead to the death of Kira’s grandfather, and the total and utter destruction of any hold of reality that Kira still have left.
To find the man who killed her grandfather and take her revenge, Kira goes to the lucrative Manda tournaments, where the Manda are used as playthings in a game. Here, the Manda’s ancient secrets quite literally come to life, threatening to tear apart the delicate balance of the modern world.

Twenty year old Chae-ku Rowan is the person struggling to keep that delicate political balance afloat, for no other reason than that it is both good for business, and good for the future of his sister. But when ancient grudges that revolve around the Manda start to surface, his sister’s life is put in danger, and Rowan’s control over the world around him is gradually whittled away.

Kira seeks revenge, Rowan control. But with the world around them getting more and more convoluted by the minute, both will have to make a choice. Rowan, whether to trust Kira, and Kira whether to give up her revenge to help Rowan, even if it means walking directly into the clutches of the man who killed her grandfather.

Comments and advice greatly appreciated :D